"If you want some accessible but informative insight into football then I suggest you couldn't do better than the Political Economy of Football website, which is not only intelligible but comes with the added bonus of being written by Addicks fan Wyn Grant."Ben Hayes - Charlton Athletic programme

This time last year all the talk was of a new style Premier League which would no longer be dominated by the top five clubs. The rise of Leicester City was produced as positive proof of a new era, overlooking the fact that Leicester City's succees was not just a product of their own audacity but also problems besetting all the conventional title challengers.

Connecting with younger supporters is a challenge for football clubs. They tend to watch games in bite sized chunks rather than as a whole on their devices. They are likely to follow multiple clubs. Research on 24,000 fans worldwide found that they followed an average of 4.6 clubs. They also increasingly follow individual players as well as teams.

Chesterfield face the threat of administration after the chairman and a number of directors resigned. They need to find £500,000 before Christmas to cover expenses.

No one has expressed any interest in buying the club. The town is relatively small (population 71,000) and quite close to the two clubs in Sheffield. Many larger towns only manage to support Conference clubs, although there is a long football heritage.

Lower league clubs in Greater Manchester face some of the biggest challenges of any clubs in securing financial stability. The attractions of City and United are close at hand and these clubs are generally located in not particularly prosperous areas of the conurbation.

FC United of Manchester may have to apply for an overdraft as they are 'in a worrying financial position'. They are struggling to meet their targets and heading towards a loss this year. That will leave the club unable to meet further obligations for the development of Broadhurst Park which they moved into in 2016.

The Red Rebels had appointed a new board in the summer and hoped their financial situation would improve. However, they now admit that they had a staffing structure that was 'unfit for purpose' and an 'unrealistic' financial plan for the 2015-16 season.

It is a diplomatic first, but Germany and China have signed a football pact. At a meeting in Berlin last week representatives of the German and Chinese governments, as well as of sporting organisations in both countries, signed a series of football-related agreements.

Bolton Wanderers have denied reports that they are in talks with a Saudi-based group about a takeover. In September chairman Ken Anderson did say that he was looking for more investment from abroad.

Before the takeover deal by a consortium in March the club had accumulated debts of £170m, although these were cleared as part of the settlement. The club are currently under a transfer embargo for failing to comply with Financial Fair Play obligations.

User login

"A fine independent web page that follows business developments in football can be found at Charlton fan Wyn Grant's regularly updated Political Economy of Football,.."Ian Plenderleith - When Saturday Comes magazine